THE AMERICAN DREAM Through the Eyes of Mrs. Ron Paul
Ron’s grandfather came from Germany at the age of 14. After being here six months, his father died and he had to make his way in a new country with a new language. He became a truck farmer in a small town in Pennsylvania. He eventually married and had four sons and one daughter. The second son was Howard Paul, Ron’s father.
Howard Paul continued to run the dairy that his father started from the basement garage of their home. They had horse-drawn delivery wagons. Howard was able, with an 8th grade education, to build a dairy with 20 refrigerated trucks and a modern dairy building. Ron’s mother kept the books and raised five sons, who were all born within seven years during the 1930s.
Ron was the third son of Howard and Margaret Paul and was brought up with the work ethic that you worked six days a week and went to church on the seventh. Ron’s first job at age 5 was to watch his uncle wash the bottles and put them on a conveyer belt. He got a penny for every dirty bottle that he found. He was serious about his job and was very proud that he could help.
Ron delivered newspapers in grade school early in the morning. You had to put the newspapers inside the screen doors and not just throw them in the yard. And speaking of yards, he mowed a lot of lawns, and he didn’t have a self-propelled lawnmower. He paid for his first year of college with newspaper and lawn-mowing money.
During High School, Ron worked in a drug store – his brothers said he worked there so he could eat ice cream when he wanted it – but he learned a lot about business and pharmacy that helped in years to come. He also had a part-time job painting the school in the summer and delivering furniture for a local store. In college he delivered laundry, and he even delivered mail during the Christmas holidays.
I actually came into the picture about 1952 when Ron was my escort to my 16th birthday party. Don’t tell anyone – but I asked him
